The idea of a visit to an attorney for your estate planning can be unsettling and daunting for many people. As a result, people often procrastinate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To help facilitate the process below is a list of to-do items or at least items to think about before your visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Make a list of your assets and an estimated value of the\nassets<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At your death, your taxable estate will include your home,\nother real estate, investment accounts, retirement accounts, life insurance,\nbank accounts, business interests, vehicles and other items of tangible\npersonal property such as furniture, artwork and jewelry. It is important to\nprovide an accurate list of your assets and their estimated value in order to\ncreate an estate plan that is tailored to your needs. If your assets don\u2019t\ncoordinate with your estate plan, your wishes may not be carried out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Health Care Agents and Attorneys-in-Fact<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who is the right person to manage your affairs during your\nlife if you become unable to care for yourself or manage your finances? Who is\nthe right person to make medical decisions on your behalf if you cannot\ncommunicate them yourself? These agents can be, but do not need to be, the same\nperson. You can choose one person to make medical decisions on your behalf and\nanother to make financial decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. End of Life Care<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Consider your preferences regarding life-sustaining\nprocedures as it relates to end-of-life care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4. Consider whether assets should be held in trust for your\nbeneficiaries after your death<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will you pass your assets outright to your children or other\nbeneficiaries at your death or should you provide ongoing trusts for such\nbeneficiaries? Even responsible adult children can benefit from the creditor\nprotection and estate tax protection that a properly drafted and administered\ntrust can provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Consider whom will manage assets for the benefit of your\nchildren or other beneficiaries after your death<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While many people wish to use family members as the Trustees\nfor their children, it can create tension within the family and appropriate\ntrustees are not always available within your own family. If you have a large\nestate or there is a particular concern about a difficult or struggling\nbeneficiary, a possible divorce or a lawsuit, you should consider nominating a\nprofessional or independent trustee to serve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6. Choose a guardian for your children<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have minor or otherwise legally incapacitated\nchildren, a will is the appropriate document in which to designate guardian(s)\nfor your children. It is good practice to have alternate guardians named as\nwell. The person acting as guardian of your children is not necessarily the\nperson who will have control over the assets that you leave for your children.\nOften the best caregiver for your children is not necessarily the most\nappropriate person to handle finances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The idea of a visit to an attorney for your estate planning can be unsettling and daunting for many people. As a result, people often procrastinate. To help facilitate the process below is a list of to-do items or at least items to think about before your visit. 1. Make a list of your assets […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_daextam_enable_autolinks":"1","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-planning-for-tax-minimization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4422"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4427,"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4422\/revisions\/4427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/patellawoffices.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}